Publications
& Policy

This report provides an overview of the private equity investment landscape, including the private equity investments of a representative sample of institutional investors across geographies. It also outlines investment models to access private equity, including organizational setup and high-level approach to management of financial and non-financial risks. It also covers historical performance of private equity as an asset class and discusses costs for different investment models. Finally, it discusses advantages, disadvantages, and key success factors for different investment models.

In this response Invest Europe has expressed its support for the work of the High Level Expert Group, highlighting the important role that private equity can play in the achievement of the EU’s goals on sustainable finance and development. In addition, we emphasised the need to take account of existing international classification systems, labels and standards and expressed our concerns about the implications this work-stream may have on certain parts of financial services legislation.

An Invest Europe study into private equity activity in Central and Eastern Europe. This report provides annual private equity and venture capital fundraising, investment and divestment statistics for the private equity markets of the CEE region in 2016.

Equity financing in entrepreneurship primarily includes venture capital, corporate venture capital, angel investment, crowdfunding, and accelerators. We take stock of venture financing research to date with two main objectives: (a) to integrate, organize, and assess the large and disparate literature on venture financing; and (b) to identify key considerations relevant for the domain of venture financing moving forward. The net effect is that organizing and assessing existing research in venture financing will assist in launching meaningful, theory-driven research as existing funding models evolve and emerging funding models forge new frontiers.

In this response Invest Europe welcomes the Commission’s potential initiative to reduce national regulatory barriers to the cross-border distribution of investment funds and agrees with the identified policy areas, such as the definition of marketing or regulatory fees currently imposed on fund managers.

A detailed paper outlining the expansion and success of the European venture capital industry. The publication draws on recent studies which show rising returns from European VC, and discusses how the industry will play a crucial role in fulfilling Europe's key priority for growth.

This response to this Commission Inception Impact Assessment welcomes the Commission consideration to revise the SME definition and suggests this revision should make clear that firms backed by private equity and venture capital investors do not, solely by virtue of that ownership form, fall outside the definition of an SME.

The most comprehensive source of European private equity and venture capital fundraising, investment and divestment data. With statistics on more than 1,200 firms, the 2016 report covers 88% of the €600bn of private equity capital under management in Europe.

Do private equity firms contribute to financial fragility during economic crises? We find that during the 2008 financial crisis, PE-backed companies increased investments relative to their peers, while also experiencing greater equity and debt inflows. The effects are stronger among financially constrained companies and those whose private equity investors had more resources at the onset of the crisis. PE-backed companies consequentially experienced higher asset growth and increased market share during the crisis.

The Invest Europe Annual Report provides an overview of Invest Europe's activities during the 12 months to June 2017 in fields including public affairs, data & research, events and communications. The report includes a financial statement.

Most investors are keenly aware that private equity returns differ substantially not only across funds but can also vary significantly from fund to fund over time. Although some fund managers have generated consistently superior returns for their investors, the generally limited degree of persistence in returns requires a highly disciplined due diligence process in fund selection. As new research finds, the performance of limited partners’ investment portfolios varies almost as much as the net returns of individual private equity funds. As a result, limited partners with superior selection skills have harvested substantially higher risk-adjusted private equity returns than the average public market equivalent would suggest.

In 2017, Norway held the presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers. In line with the Norwegian presidency’s emphasis on increased competitiveness and the green transition, this study was initiated by the Ministers for Nordic Co-operation. The purpose of this study is to explore the potential for increased Nordic collaboration in relation to financing early-phase companies and companies in the growth phase.

This member guide to the AIFMD explains its key provisions and implementing measures from a private equity perspective. It sets out the requirements for general partners and covers the impact on investors and funds of funds.

This response summarises the private equity industry’s position on the criteria that could be used to identify unlisted equity to which a lower risk charge could be applied. It also reiterates our concerns that existing Solvency II capital charges does not reflect the actual risk insurers face when investing in the asset class and argues that it should be significantly lower than the existing 39%. The Call for Evidence is part of the technical work undertaken by EIOPA to advise the European Commission on the reassessment of the risk-weighting for insurers' investments into unlisted equity and debt as part of their Solvency II review in 2018.

The PAE response to this Commission Consultation details the views of the private equity industry on potential changes made to the European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) structure, governance and funding, in particular the suggestion for the ESAs (which include ESMA, EIOPA and EBA) to be funded directly by industry participants.